Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Is Apple about to launch a subscription service?

  Rumors of an iTunes subscription service have resurfaced . At first I thought that the DRM-free announcement meant a subscription service was less likely , but perhaps the opposite is true. First of all, album purchases will already be the DRM-free "premium" versions. As for individual tracks, the new "premium" tracks are competing directly with the DRM-protected tracks. That is, no one is going to buy both - and I fully expect the majority to choose DRM-free even with a 30% premium. Furthermore, if everything is encumbered with DRM, a subscription service undermines the very profitable individual track purchases. After all, if you're just renting your music anyway, you might as well get it from an all-you-can-eat service at, say, $10 a month instead of paying $1 for each song. On the other hand, a subscription service with DRM can in fact be complementary to purchasing DRM-free tracks. You rent it and, if you really like it, pay for it and keep it forever. No DRM, no activation, no limitation... Posted Apr 12 2007, 03:27 PM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Music, Business, Apple, Audio, DRM

• A look at Apple and Microsoft strategies

  I've been thinking about some of the interesting strategic decisions that Microsoft has made lately. I already discussed their curious IP licensing strategy , and their choices with Zune and Windows Media Player have me similarly baffled. In many ways, these moves have been something I expect more from Apple than Microsoft. Apple has always been known for delivering closed systems, controlling the experience from end to end. Apple software runs on an Apple OS on Apple hardware. Conversely, Microsoft has thrived largely because it has recognized the value in delivering not just products, but platforms. Office and Windows are both successful not just because of what they do as a product, but because they leave room for third party developers. It is those developers, not just Microsoft itself, that really enable a true ecosystem. Even the Xbox 360 has been a platform, not just for the media content providers, but now for the independent game developers. Given their history, it should come... Posted Jan 01 2007, 02:42 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Rants, Gadgets, Things that amuse me, Music, Innovation, Business, Microsoft, Apple, Audio

• Podcast support in Windows Media Player 11

  There is one other issue I need to deal with before I can totally switch to Windows Media Player 11 - podcast support. Microsoft made the head-scratching decision not to include native podcast support - one area where iTunes really excelled. Someone wrote a plugin over the summer , but it doesn't work in WMP 11 and Vista and he's not maintaining it right now . There are countless other third party aggregators (Doppler is an old favorite), but I need to spend some time figuring it all out. My key requirements are: Automatic downloads (no manual intervention) Synchronization to the device (at most 1 click, preferably none) Removal of old podcasts (preferably removed from the device after they've been listened to, but I'll accept support for the last, say, 3 episodes - as long as Steve Gillmor doesn't break CalacanisCast into 17 parts). For those of you not using iTunes, how are you managing your subscriptions? Note: I'll update this post over time as I refine the strategy. Posted Dec 28 2006, 02:56 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Software Development, Rants, Gadgets, Music, Blogging, Apple, Audio, Podcast

• dopisp adds iPod support in WMP 11

  Like most people, I would prefer to use a single media player to manage my library. I like Windows Media Player 11 more than iTunes 7 , and this is especially true since I've subscribed to the Urge subscription service . (I really wish Apple would provide a subscription-based service for the iPod). The problem, of course, is that Windows Media Player still doesn't support the iPod - something I complained about in 2004 with WMP10 . As it turns out, someone finally wrote a plug-in to support the iPod in WMP ( via LifeHacker ). I downloaded the trial last night and will give it more time, but so far it seems to work very well. Assuming I can figure out a good way to handle podcasts, it is well worth the $15. Posted Dec 28 2006, 11:33 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Music, Microsoft, Apple, Audio